Beer links for Spring!

Spring is officially shows up tomorrow though it feels like it has been lurking around for the last few weeks. How bad is it? I actually had to mow my lawn this last weekend. Now I got that to look forward to for the next 7 months. 

In the News!

Yes please.
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Munich’s other beer festival (CNN)

Someday I will make my pilgrimage to Oktoberfest, but honestly this one sounds more appealing. 

New Orleans International Beer Festival pours more than 150 brews (NOLA.com)

JGF needs to start getting correspondents. Too many festivals, too little coverage. 

How Beer Saved the World (Huffington Post)

It is a building block of civilization, enough said. 

Brooklyn Brewery: The guys who brought beer back to the borough (Mother Nature Network)

For all you aspiring brewers out there this article provides some interesting insight to finding brewing success. 

Better in the bottle  (Chicago Tribune)

Now for some education on bottle conditioning. 

Nashville craft beer scene is hopping these days (The Tennessean)

I'll be heading that way at the end of July. Expect a full report then!

Going back to school for beer (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Maybe someday I will get classically trained in beer...until then I will just keep experimenting and self-educating.

Craft beers are showing up in cans, clearing the way for it to be served in more places (Patriot-News)

The can movement grows. One thing I have noticed though is the cans are a whole lot more attractive than they used to be. 

Lowly beer bottle sets sustainability standard (Calgary Herald)

And now here is a vote of confidence for the bottle. 

A Brief History of Beer Gardens (The Daily Meal)

I think it is time for a beer garden visit, plus some schnitzel...and a big pretzel. 

Hahn spill-proof beer (Ubergizmo)

It got a laugh from me. 

‘Power Drinking and Power Dressing in Iron Age Germany’ looks at beer history (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

If I lived closer I would totally go to this. Once again, I need to start getting some correspondents from beer hot spots. 

Did you honestly expect something else when
I talk about beer and water?
(Original here)

Now for a public service announcement: 

The EPA's Assistant Administrator for Water, Nancy Stoner, will be hosting a Twitter chat about the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. We all know that great beer demands clean water. We also know that it takes a lot of water to make great beer. Go ask them some questions! The hashtag is #cleanwater and you can find them at @EPAwater from 2:00 to 2:30pm EDT. 

In site news!

It has been over a month but the Jolly Good Fellows podcast will be recording tomorrow night! In other news the brackets have been recently updated to the Sweet 16 beers, Brian will finish out his Pennsylvania adventure, and you can expect some ramblings from me! 

As always you can find us on Untappd, Facebook, twitter, and Google Plus. Just click on the little boxes in the top right corner. Thanks for sticking with us, we are glad you stopped by!

Lent, Liquid Bread, and 5 recommendations to see you through

It is the Lenten season now for our Christian readers. A little over six weeks for prayer, penance, self-denial, etc. So you may ask, why are we looking at Lent? Well, two reasons actually, the first is that religion has played a significant and gigantic role in beer culture; the second is that Lent has spurred the creation of some amazing brews. Even more so than politics, beer and religion have a long intertwined relationship.

Once again we have to go back to the reason beer has been ever present in human civilization. It wasn’t until recently in human history that we have had safe, reliable drinking water. There are still substantial parts of the world where this is still not the case. The beer making process though does make beer a reliable and safe alternative. This fact was not lost on early humankind and beer quickly established itself as a beverage of choice with brewing being a noble and religious endeavor. Archeology has backed this up over the years with discoveries of the beer-religion connection in many early civilizations.

The original "liquid bread."
(Original here)

Let’s skip forward a couple of thousand years until we get to the monastic movement. Christian monks were supposed to live a life of asceticism, away from the secular, focused on the spiritual. They were also to be self-sustaining with all hands working for the benefit of the monastic community. With water still being an issue the monks brewed beer. Fasting was a major component of Lent and the monks took it seriously, but there was still work to be done. This is Latin, “liquida nonfrangunt ieuniu” and it basically means that liquids do not break the fast. In this saying though lay the solution to the problem the monks faced. Make a high calorie liquid to give them the energy needed to get through their days. The easiest way to do this was to amp up the beer they were already brewing. Enter doppelbock beers, also known as liquid bread.

In an interesting bit of irony (maybe), the monks sent a cask of their brew to the Pope in Rome for his approval that they could drink this beer during Lent. The beer skunked in route, when it was tested by the Church leaders the beer was so sour and nasty that they assumed it was additional penance and hardship and were only too willing to allow the monks to drink the beer they were brewing as an added sacrifice. Skunked beer saved the day on that occasion and we continue to enjoy delicious doppelbocks.

So how effective was the beer? Last year, J. Wilson, an Iowan, did 46 days of fasting living on just doppelbock and water. He drank an average of 4 to 5 pints throughout his day. He lost weight, but still had plenty of energy to do the work needed to be done. In his case brew beer actually. Each beer had 250+ calories. 

If you want to enjoy a couple of beers for your Lenten season I would recommend going German. The list below should prove useful.

Paulaner Salvator – the original

Ayinger Celebrator

Augustiner Maximator

Ettaler Curator

Spaten Optimator

Finally one slightly of the beaten path: Aecht OriginalSchlenkerla Lentbeer

If you decide you want to fast for an extended period of time and drink only beer, well our advice is to please check with your doctor first.